Hydrogen Fuel Cell Phone Charger 'Upp' Launches in UK Apple Stores

[JeffyTheQuik]

No, not really. There was no alternative to a mobile phone back then. The alternative now is a charged battery or an external battery pack.

I see where you are going with this.

But there were alternatives to cell phones back then. There were car phones (my stepfather had a dial one in 1983. Not touch tone, but it looked like a standard phone that was bolted in the car that made calls while he was driving. It was probably the precursor to today's "no phones while driving" laws)
The other alternatives were phone booths and the home phone.

Anyway, the alternatives you mention are good, even better than this technology, so you are probably right. New technology has to be better than the current technology. Then, the builders can command a premium price. Otherwise, it's a flop.

 

[coffeemadmanUK]

Most hydrogen today is made through coal gassification. It releases a bunch of CO2 and burns dirtier than oil.

You can alsmo make hydrogen through electricity, but that is also going to be originally made from fossil fuels. But whereas recharging a battery is 90% efficient or more, turning electricity into hydrogen is at best 40% efficient, so you waste 60% of the energy relative to a battery powered bus, and the whole process ends up being less efficient than just burning the oil in the bus to begin with.

Hydrogen has a niche use, most likely as a range extender for battery electric cars, but it is really not a good replacement for either gasoline or batteries. It would make more sense if it was possible to manufacture hydrogen efficiently, but that doesn't seem like it will happen in the forseeable future (even if we're being optimistic).

I take your point - though if I had to choose between diesel in an inner city or hydrogen for air quality I would choose hydrogen.

That being said, the hydrogen is produced for London through waste disposal plants - not ideal but it's at least being created using something we have to get rid of anyway.

 

[Olly c]

My unboxing, subscribe because I will post a review soon http://youtu.be/LL4wHgVoVPI

 

[AppleTrees]

The technology is good. Intelligent Energy also makes fuel cells for the automotive industry. However in this case I believe it's too big heavy and costly. I know about the difficulties Intelligent Energy had producing this product and what was done to remedy the issues. Also carriers just don't want to touch it so I have been led to believe. Therefore I would not buy this product. There are much cheaper products on the market for a fraction of the cost.